Category Archives: Games

Starting a quest battle at Tinkletown, where Whizz Kid tries to win against mayor Rump Trumpet by violent means.

These are my and my son’s thoughts on Behemoth’s Pit People, based on the September 2016 closed XBOX One Beta (my son was given a key for it so we all got to play). Ohhh, and our thoughts are happy thoughts. I don’t know who these people are at Behemoth, but I love them. As my son said, “It’s as if they got in my brain and made the game based on what they found.” (At the end of this post is a gameplay video with commentary by the both of us.)

Unlike Behemoth’s previous platformer (a type of game I don’t like and won’t bother playing) Battleblock Theater, Pit People is a turned-based strategy game (Behemoth describes it as “face-paced, turn-based, co-op adventure”). And it’s a very entertaining one. Behemoth games have always been the *ultimate* in quirkiness, cuteness, and in-game humor. So while I haven’t played their past games (I’m now definitely going to give Castle Crashers Remastered, a five-star “2D arcade adventure” game on XBOX One*, a go), I loved watching my son play Battleblock Theater because it was so refreshingly quirky and funny (it is bloodier than Pit People seems to be–a plus for the new game). Only Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare comes close.

But could Pit People be awarded “Game of the Year” by anyone (there are many groups and publishers that give the honor)? Maybe not, as the award seems to always go to big money-makers by big developers, and Behemoth is a small independent developer. Perusing video game awards given in the past, I’m amazed The Behemoth has never won any. Maybe they just aren’t “serious” enough . . . But Pit People could be a game-changer, right? I hope so.

When breaking up a wedding is a good thing–the groom wants to feed his FRIEND the cupcake to his bride and guests. A critical hit display is captured.

Anyway, about the game. You start with a couple of characters and quickly get a couple more, but have to recruit more in order to move on to the main quest. After that, you can keep recruiting and are given the option to build many teams. Since the game is in Beta, I don’t know if the numbers of things will remain the same, but your in-game book provides stats and they currently say: 55 areas/sites to find, 1003 unlockable items, and 94 quests. The number of quests is not the reality, as far as I can tell, since all but the main quest line quests can be done over (many times), and they get harder. A pleasant surprise: when I failed a quest and went back to it, the enemy characters actually moved into different positions from the first play-through.

As usual, the story and narration in the game are superb. A giant bear, basically a Satan figure (your battle sign is a haloed and winged happy face, your enemy is a horned red face), has crashed to earth and caused havoc, raining down big liquidy globs of green bear blood. As you travel about to accomplish quests (main, sub-, and found) or to explore and fight random enemies, you encounter all kinds of weird and funny lands (“Cavity Falls,” filled with goodies, the “Lair of Lady Ladylegs,” filled with . . . a large lady spider thing, and so on) populated by wacky enemies (bulgy-eyed unicorns, slug women (Gorgons), giant troll mothers . . .). There are “famous fries” throwing sticks, swords made of dentures, swordfish, and toilet brushes (not together, mind you), and strange shields made of bacon, luggage, pain-reliever capsules—you name it, even a celery stalk helmet. There is a ton of entertaining dialogue throughout the game that is both written-out and, instead of standard voice-overs, verbalized as gibberish. The different characters have different types of voices, adding to the humor and “outside-my-own-world” effect of the game.

This latest Behemoth game happily features player co-op mode as well as player vs player and player vs AI in the PIT. We haven’t tried the co-op yet, but playing in the PIT can be fun and quite rewarding. When playing against AI in the “Unfair Co-op,” which is HARD and meant to be UNFAIR, the point isn’t so much to win as to gain things, like exclusive loot and experience points. Did I mention that there are cupcake healers in the game? No? They lob their frosting at you for your yummy refreshment; my favorite cupcake has orange frosting and a decorative skull. I know what I want for Christmas now, IF Pit People is released that soon (no word on its release date yet).

* It isn’t only available on XBOX One, but it has a five-star rating there.

The Garden Warfare 2 Beta is still on, and in this 5 minute video my son catches the end of a super long battle for the gnome–where he’s able to win it for his zombie team while being a . . . goat! The session was the longest he’s ever experienced playing Garden Warfare, and perhaps that’s a tribute to plants and zombies being more balanced in the newer plants vs zombies game. Here’s the video, but we also have a post that goes over the changes we see, and our impressions of them, from Garden Warfare to Garden Warfare 2. We hope you enjoy both!

The Garden Warfare 2 Beta, or more like a pre-release frenzy fest, is happening from January 14th to 18th, 2016. The game’s release is scheduled for February 23rd. I’ve written positively about the original Garden Warfare here, since it’s a “clean” fun game that Christians might enjoy. But what of Garden Warfare 2? Well, we’re playing it and these are some of our impressions; they are necessarily limited to the parts of the game included with the BETA, which are the multi-player mode and small amount of backyard play only.

A note on the categories below. Good, Neutral, and Sad/Questionable relate to changes to the new game from the original game. And, since there seem to be lots of changes, not all are written about here.

The Good

Zombie changes. Not all zombie changes are good, in our opinions here. But there are good ones (the Yeti Chomper is sooo cute!). Captain Deadbeard is funny and has a parrot that he can use for distance attacks, just like the Cactus does with vegetle drones in the original Garden Warfare. The scientist has some fun and detailed variants, the mathematician and the zoologist. The zoologist, especially, is crazy-funny and detailed, with its porcupine gun, living Koala riding piggyback, and prairie dog coif. The scientist, according to my son, is now easier to use/control, too. Another new zombie is the Imp with his Z7 Mech, which together are a fun wink at Titanfall. The imp is a really fun addition to the zombie team.

“I got you as a friend. There’s nothing more an old bot could ask for.” This is one of the more satisfying aspects of the game, or is that a social outcast sort-of-thing to think? Here, Nick Valentine, a synthetic human with the memories of a 21st century detective (who’s fiance had been murdered by a crime boss), professes warm friendship.

This is the second part of my Fallout 4 review, Fallout 4. Sometimes Bigger Isn’t Better. For the first part, with the introduction and description of what’s similar and what’s different in this newest edition to the Fallout series, please go to Fallout 4. Sometimes Bigger Isn’t Better (Overview).

The Story, or, an Outline of a Story

I don’t know if it was bad directing or bad choices that made the story so shallow in Fallout 4. This game has a huge map, voice acting, cut-scenes that accompany all the dialogues, all kinds of crafting and building, and many followers that have a lot more comments and quips than in previous games, and all of those things take up memory and developing them would have used up the game’s budget. Those are things that either weren’t in the previous games, or they were but to a much lesser degree. So choices were made, and the newest story suffered; it is much more of an outline than an actual story.

The main stories in Fallout New Vegas DLCs, like Old World Blues and Honest Hearts, for example, have more to them than this new whole game does. Characters in those DLCs talk a lot more about what they’ve done and what they’re doing than in Fallout 4, which has a story where all the missing explanation is an irreconcilable, glaring annoyance. Your own character doesn’t have the ability to question much of anything, like any normal person would, nor do they have anywhere near the normal level of frustration, sadness, anger, etc., expressed in all things related to your son and your quest for him.

An old model synth found in an abandoned part of The Institute (with a “posterize” filter).

Fallout 4. What can one say? After years of anticipation, the 2015 sequel to Fallout 3 (2008) and Fallout New Vegas (2010) is found to be bigger and . . . different. It should be different, at least in some ways, of course. Fallout 4 (Bethesda Softworks, Rated M) is a BIG game, as so many new ones are today, but it tries to be too much in this reviewer’s view. How can a video game have too much? Well, Fallout 4 isn’t just any video game. It is one in a series, one in a franchise (Fallout New Vegas technically isn’t part of the franchise, but that makes no difference to player perception or lore) with a certain style and lore.

While there is a lot to be happy about with Fallout 4, the new gargantuan level of building and crafting (together with the related radiant quests) is not integrated well with the actual story of the game. It’s almost as if they’re two different things, two different games held together by thin threads. The story comes off as being really minimal compared to both the other in-game activities and the last two Fallout game stories. The ultra-tragic story sets the mood of the game, and when that mood is betrayed (finds no outlet), the resulting annoyance (anger and dismay, more like) spoils the game. But more on that later. Since this Fallout review would be really (really) long for one blog post, it was divided into two. This first part goes over things that are the same and things that are different in this newest Fallout (the lists here are not exhaustive), with the second part presenting the story, with commentary, and giving a final overall analysis and rating.

Hello gamers! So have you taken some time out from playing Fallout 4, which just came out today, or are you visiting here because you’re curious about it? Well, my family looked very much forward to playing it, and now it’s here! We ordered a Fallout 4 bundle from Gamestop because we knew we could use a new XBOX and controller, and Gamestop’s bundle came with an exclusive Fallout faceplate. (We made an unboxing video of it, posted at our Youtube channel, Lingering Trees.)

I knew I missed something in the new The Descent DLC playthrough I did for Lingering Trees, but, being busy doing other things, I waited a bit to go back and try and figure it out. OK, so I did figure it out, and I found about the best part of the DLC. The Nug King with his nug minions.

The King is accessed from an area that looks inaccessible on the fourth map (Forgotten Caverns) down in the deep. But first, to get to that area on map 4, you have to walk to it from map 5 (Bastion of the Pure). Travel to the farthest area on the left side . . . it looks like an undiscovered area, but it’s jut that it goes back “upstairs.”

Bastion of the Pure map. Travel to the west to go back up to the Forgotten Caves map.

Once you’re back on map 4 (Forgotten Caverns), go left and then south toward the big chasm. When you reach the chasm, look to your left, and along the wall there’s a rock that has some writing on it. It says something like, “only those who believe can cross.” I can’t read it now because the dialogue ceases to exist after you find your way across. Anyway, from that rock, just start crossing into the chasm on faith, and . . . a green bridge forms in front of you.

Forgotten Caverns map. Travel west, and then south, to the chasm that’s for believer’s only.

I won’t say more, but let you enjoy the Nug King for yourself if you haven’t yet. But, for anyone interested, I have an episode about it up at YouTube.

I purchased and have played the new Dragon Age: Inquisition DLC, The Descent, as soon as I could since we wanted to put it up at my husband’s and son’s YouTube Channel. I’ll do a formal review of it sometime soon, but for now, suffice it to say that this new add-on seems VERY short for the $14.99 price tag.

I was fairly dumbfounded when, at the new “expeditions” table, opening areas for 8 power points only opened bridges to small loot areas. The new dwarven dungeon is neat, but not as spectacular as anything in Skyrim. In fact, the blue-light speckled ceiling in one area looked like a copy of Skyrim’s Blackreach and other falmer dungeons). I’m not quite done yet, so I’ll see if I’m correct in assuming The Descent is very short. So far, however, the only reason why it has as many episodes in our playlist as it has is because of my mistakes!

In any case, I try and do a thumbnail for each episode and therefore have lots of screen shots. Here are some views from The Descent, and images that reflect Dragon Age: Inquisition, and all it’s add-ons, generally. They of course represent spoilers. (Feel free to use any you like, but only if you are willing to link them to this page.) Click on the images to see the full-size views (much better!).

Update (September 9, 2015): The last DLC for DA Inquisition, Trespasser, came out yesterday, but I did not purchase it. Since The Descent would take an experienced Dragon Age player only about 5 hours to go through–which is ridiculous for the $15 price tag–I decided against spending our limited funds on another Bioware DLC. Gamers need to stop supporting gaming companies that abuse their player base like this. The much much longer-playing (and interesting) Jaws of Hakkon was sort-of worth the $15; The Descent should’ve been $5. I’m serious. It is a short, straight forward run to simply get some new gear. I think the Destiny guy who angered so many simply voiced what all the game developers know: gamers simply “throw money at the screen.”

Darkspawn in the Deep Roads; The Descent, Dragon Age Inquisition DLC

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Another type of Darkspawn or related demon. The Descent, Dragon Age.

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Female Dwarf statue – right? The Descent, Dragon Age

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Dragon Age humor, “barreled treasure” in The Descent

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Check out those demons! Fighting Darkspawn in The Descent, Dragon Age Inquisition

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Looks like hell. “Reclaiming the Thaig” in Dragon Age, The Descent.

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Battling an Emissary Alpha in The Descent, Dragon Age Inquisition.

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Valta at the Ancient Lift, The Descent, Dragon Age Inquisition.

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Renn at the Ancient Lift, The Descent, Dragon Age Inquisition.

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In the Forgotten Caverns, The Descent, Dragon Age Inquisition. It’s pretty dark, and are those blue glowing eyes?

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Crazy guardian dwarf with lyrium gun, The Descent, Dragon Age Inquisition. You can only see these in a VERY DARK video (this image was filtered).

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Bridge exploding. An expedition will replace it.

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Lyrium veins in The Descent.

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The Barrier, rigged, The Descent.

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Exploding lyrium, The Descent, Dragon Age.

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Mysterious Bed, The Descent, Dragon Age.

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Battling an Emissary that was behind a Gate of Segrummar.

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Wellspring view, The Descent, Dragon Age.

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The Lyrium heart in Wellspring.

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The heart transforms into The Guardian, but the Titan itself seems to not wish the team harm (or any more harm).

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Nug King, The Descent, Dragon Age. Love the crown!

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Battle in The Descent, Dragon Age Inquisition. I don’t know what that purple attack is!

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Using the Veil against a Demon (or Darkspawn), The Descent, Dragon Age Inquisition.

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Sometimes battle is like a dance. Dragon Age Inquisition, bow abilities; The Descent.

Like this:

I’ve been waiting, not very patiently, for news of the next Fallout series game for some time now, just like all the other fans (I’ve been annoyed with Bethesda, the developer, over their related court battles though, too). My son texted me today about it, with this image personifying his feelings over how Fallout 4 looks in the trailer (and with XCOM coming out, E3 coming up [June 14], and Doom, too . . . his body is looking to explode):

There are other articles about Destiny, but they are in regards to it's first year and where applicable, critical of certain aspects of the game and especially of how the second year made the first year's game useless. Those in charge of the game thumbed their noses at first year players (who are a type of investor). To play the game fully the second year, players had to fork out another $60; new players, arriving the second year, got the first year free, basically.

Pure

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Christian Things and Things Seen Through Christian Eyes

"I believe in Christianity as I believe the sun has risen, not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else." C.S. Lewis
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"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world" (James 1:27).
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Elisha prayed, “Open his eyes, Lord, so that he may see.” Then the Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. 2 Kings 6:1
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"David said to Gad, 'I am in deep distress. Let me fall into the hands of the Lord, for his mercy is very great; but do not let me fall into human hands'.” 1 Chronicles 21:13

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